FW 



% 







m 







I 



Class _ ■■ S /£££. 

Book_ '-2£Q» 

GopsTi^ht N° 









COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 













i 






Jwfe^*^ 







J? 






^'■3 



mRl 












m. 




ns 



1% «pfe < 






^ 










n^m 



'piutim 



mm* 



. (^> 






rf^.':J2 



^^^ ^ife 






^'^« 



^-*^?; 



The Building* of a Church 



BY 



JOHN X. DURWARD 

RURAL DEAN 



BARABOO, WIS., J902 



^■f 



Iht LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JAN 3 1903 

n Copyright Entry 

/J/CLASS (X XXc. No 

^79(0 

COPY B. 



Copyright 1902. 
All rights reserved. 



2>eDication. 

To the Priests of America 

The Church Builders 

of our time 

This volume is dedicated. 



PREFACE. 

It is not so much as a poem that this little book 
is written as the expression of the joy of a workman 
in his work, of those "vital feeling's of delight" which 
should animate a man at his labor. 

It is, further, the embodiment of principles of ar- 
chitectural art, which, had they been observed, would 
have prevented much of the ugliness that disfigures 
our land in the way of church buildings. 

If the Devil were an architect I would think that 
many clergymen had employed him to draw their plans. 
It is in the hope that as our country progresses in ev- 
ery thing else good, it may also grow in genuine feel- 
ing for an architecture that is fit to be offered to God, 
that I present this small contribution as a lesson and 
an inspiration; and if as the pious Herbert says: "A 
verse may find him whom a sermon misses," it may 
even do missionary work in fields where other apostles 
would be debarred. 

Some one says that for worship we should go, 
"Not to the domes where crumbling arch and column 

Attest the feebleness of mortal hand, 
But to that fane most Catholic and solemn 

Which God has planned, — 
To that cathedral boundless as our wonder, 

Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon supply, 
Its choir the wind and waves, its organ thunder, 
Its dome, the sky." 



iv PREFACE 

But I venture the guess that the poet who penned these 
beautiful lines, drew the initial inspiration (perhaps 
forgotten) with his knees on the pavement of a Chris- 
tian Temple. 

Ordinary minds never rise to a right conception of 
God's work except by first contemplating man's. Then 
their thoughts expand to the realization of the beauty 
and sublimity of nature which before was something 
so unmeasured that they did not feel its immensity. 



The architecture of the Christian church is the 
art unitive of all other arts. Building, Sculpture, 
Painting, even Music and Oratory must be consulted, if, 
from the nature of the case, not all are employed in 
the structure. But Architecture has this advantage 
over the other plastic arts: Painting and Sculpture 
are seen against a background of man's making — the 
dull wall of the studio or the gilded panel of the gal- 
lery — but Architecture has for relief the transfiguring 
air shot through by sunlight, the companionship of the 
mountain, the repose of the Campagna, or the change- 
ful hue of the sea. Surely if anything of man's is to 
be picturesque it should be his building — for he builds 
where it is seen of God, and placed by the side of His 
Art. 

As the House should express the home life so the 
church building must represent the Faith. The pagan 
temple was a dwelling simply for the god, small size 
only was required; very little light, very little adorn- 
ment;— the erods were born of Nox, and in darkness 



PREFACE v 

was their abode. He only who dwells in light inacces- 
sible could bring - architecture to that beauty which the 
Christian heart desires. On the other hand the Prot- 
estant church — the Protestant for whom God came in- 
deed but went away again — is at best merely a meeting 
house for the people in which to worship their absent 
Deity; for their puritanism will not, or would not till 
lately, allow it to be made an art g-allery, nor their re- 
maining reverence permit it to be a club-room. But the 
Catholic architect has to combine these two: the dwell- 
ing place of the present God, and the auditorium for 
the worshippers; and his task is to harmonize light, 
air and acoustics with adoration. 

Although I maintain that Gothic is by excellence 
the Christian style, yet I would not wish to be under- 
stood as reprobating the judicious use of other styles, 
if only they be preserved in their purity. The world 
would indeed be poorer without the variety. Nor will 
I say that though Christianity created the Gothic and 
did not originate the others, that it is unable to appro- 
priate those other forms; yea, and consecrate them, as 
the church did many pagan customs. Wherever a rite 
is agreeable to human nature and not dangerous to 
faith or morality the missionary does not abrogate it 
but transfers it. Even when dangerous at one time, it 
may be innocent at another; the statues of the false 
god would have been destroyed by Peter, but are cher- 
ished by Leo. So a form of architecture may have 
been the expression of a pagan faith, but in so far as 
it corresponds with the laws of beauty and of adora- 



vi PREFACE 

tion, may be the ground work of the Christian church, 
because veneration is the basis of religion in pagan 
and Christian alike; the direction of the worship alone 
needing- to be changed. The whole question then 
hinges on whether an extraneous architecture can or 
can not be adapted to Christian ideals of God and man's 
relation to Him without becoming- mongrel. 

But whatever we may say of the right to adapt an 
earlier architecture there is no excuse for adopting- the 
modern degenerations from Catholic art. This degen- 
eracy is marked in the architecture of Protestanism. 
We see its earth-seeking- in the Renaissance that return 
to Paganism, its disobedience in the Tudor, its vanity 
in the Flamboyant. Yes! we must admit we find its 
inception when architecture fell from its highest estate 
in the worldliness of Catholic Popes. 

Gothic architecture is the counterpart of Catholic 
doctrine: in both there is the most perfect acquiescence 
in law joined to the very highest liberty. Take an ex- 
ample: One feature of Gothic is the pointed arch. But 
what an endless variety in that form! The Roman 
arch is one; no deviation possible from that half-circle. 
hi Gothic again we find the counterpart of Catholic mo- 
rality— the union of science and of art, of principle with 
sentiment. The modern R. R. station and the sky 
scraper have used science but without the beauty; the 
little cot on the mountain side has the beauty but no 
hint of engineering skill; while the Gothic Cathedral is 
the triumph of technical principle and a climax of ar- 
chitectural beauty and life. 



PREFACE vii 

In regard to the hotly contested question of the ad- 
missibility of Iron as a building- material, so savagely 
excommunicated by John Ruskin and so warmly cham- 
pioned by Henry Van Brunt (Vide Crayon, Vol. VI, p. 
15) perhaps the old axiom may be of service: qui bene 
distinguit, bene docet. We must admit as a general 
proposition that iron can never supersede stone as the 
best material for walls and the most beautiful medium 
for ornament. But as buildings are for utility as well 
as beauty and there is a limit to one's purse, it becomes 
simply a question of how much of the one we will sac- 
rifice for the other. No one will say that a cast iron 
pillar is as beautiful as one cut from marble, but he 
must ask himself if he have room for the larger stone 
or must be content with the smaller iron. Let us keep 
in mind that he knows he sacrifices beauty (and this 
should be self-confessed) but so does he who only places 
a plaster cast of Psyche in his study who cannot afford 
the marble. 

Now, while this sacrifice may properly be made 
where utility is the object of our building, it is out of 
place where ornament is the end aimed at. Another 
general law: As ornament is not essential, if we have 
it at all we should have it excellent; economy (always 
within just bounds) lessening the quantity rather than 
the quality. And again another — Where beauty is ex- 
pressed by majestic lines especially far distant, as the 
roof span, I see no objection to the use of iron; indeed 
it will facilitate what could not be accomplished with- 
out its aid. The same may be said where the orna- 



vin PREFACE 

mentation is not to be viewed in its detail, but in its 
entirety fo.r sake of the whole effect— like a wall paper 
for the atmosphere of richness but which should not 
tempt one to look at it as at a picture. 

With these suggestions I commit this poem to the 
reader. It is confessedly an Olla podrida; but Sanchez 
finds many a bonm bouche in that national dish; (prosit 
«»men!) it is sadly disjointed— but so is a priest's leisure. 

The Deanery, 

Baraboo, Wis., 1902. 



INVOCATION. 

O Thou! the Spirit Architect supreme! 

Than depth profounder and than height more high; 

Who laid foundations for man's earth abode, 

Poising- the water, 'stablishing the sky, 

With certain law and meter compassing, 

That nothing pass its bounds; by thy joy v when 

Playing at all times, playing in the world, 

Thou hadst delight to be with sons of men; 

Be with me man daring to build for God, 

Daring where wisest one of old exclaimed: 

"Thou whom the heaven of heavens cannot hold 

How canst Thou dwell in house by my hand framed?" 

Yet did he build. Saying in confidence: 
"Let hither come the nations all. Behold! 
Jehovah here invoked as in high heaven; 
Whatever they shall ask for shall be given; 
Shechinah of the mercies manifold." 

SCOPE. 

No common task is ours. The xArchitect 
Of Christian fane must in one house unite 
All that for worship has been raised before. 



THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 
Temple he builds— the shrine of Deity: 
Basilica— the dwelling- of the King-: 
EJcclesia — the fold for chosen ones: 
Church, too— the Lord's, for Lord's day sacrifice. 
URGENCY. 

In creating God rejoices: 

We too yearn to bear a part; 

Motherhood is woman's portion,— 

Man must turn to art, 

And in statue, book or picture 

Leave behind him prog-eny 

After his own heart. 

DIFFIDENCE. 

In spirit first I build. Like David old 

Planning God's dwelling while he watched his sheep, 

Raising in thought to melody of his harp 

That temple not for him. Keep, O God! keep 

Thy Spirit ever near to mine, to bless: 

Lest sin in me prevent the work sublime, 

Support me that Imay to worthiness 

Upbuild my soul while I upbuild my rhyme. 

CONFIDENCE. 

Swell, swell my voice with more than Orphean power; 
Sing out inv muse in sweeter tones than Pan's; 

LikeFlorence'pride our Church must grow-a flower, 
It shall be music's offspring more than man's. 
That music that the morning- stars essayed, 



INTRODUCTORY 2 

That music to which all creations move, 
That music that in Heaven itself is made 
Because that music still is Love. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

What is a church? On Canaan's upland wold 

Jacob set up a single stone, unhewn, 

Pouring- the consecrating oil, and lo! 

"This is the 'House of God' this is Beth-El." 

So through the ages gleams the vast Maenhir: 

(Like giant left alone on battle field;) 

The single stone symboling God's unity. 

Such sees the traveller with wondering eyes 

Where Carnac dreams among her thousand stones 

In sea-washed Morbihan. Or Orkney Isles 

Hold up aloft the Monolith of Stennis, 

To Odin sacred, or if curious creeps 

Through stone at Maderty. Or reverent stands 

By Tanist Stane, or kingly Lia-Fail. 

All altars these; and altar makes the church. 

Next view, remembered of God's Trinity, 
The Dolmen, Table Stone or Trilithon, 
"Kit Coity's House" at Maidstone an example; 
Or where Loire glides by Saumur, or in far 
India's land, or east of Jordan's flood. 

We call these Druid stones; but time has hid 
The sacrificing priest, and we know not 
Whether to Odin, or to Mars, or to 



4 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The sun god, or Jehovah of the Jews 
These altars rose; or if acceptable 
Victim were here, or human holocaust. 
But altar surely tokens sacrifice, 
And sacrifice's precinct is a church. 

Then see the Maenhir and the Dolmen gather — 
Like village children in a rural dance — 
Into the Cromlech or stone circle vast. 
Our churches walls are forming! 
Go see Stonehenge on plain of Salisbury 
Those ''hanging stones" once in concentric rings- 
Alas! that spoiler's hand has so destroyed 
These finest monuments of Britain's Eld. 
There yet live those who saw their perfectness; 
But few remain today. O tempora! 
Others are found at Avesbury in Wiltshire 
At Stanton Drew, at Callernish and Orkney; 
Yes! and in far Peru beneath the Line 
And where Mount Sinai heard the primal law. 

Next pass to space inclosed by wall and roof; 
The temple proper. First the rock cut caves, 
Dagobas, relic shrines of farthest Ind. 
At Baugb on the Nerbudda or at Karli, 
Rivaling in shape Christian Basilica; 
Chaitvas dedicate to Brahm or Buddh 
Or more pretentious Kylas at Ellora 
Where rock is cut to temple outwardly. 




MAENHIR— DOLMEN— CROMLECH. 



INTRODUCTORY 

Where "China's sorrow" with his muddy waves, 

The Hoang--Ho, runs furious to the sea, 

Or where by all beloved the Yang--tse-kiang- 

The "Son that spreads" loses himself in Deltas, 

The Buddish temple rises on our view 

Fantastic pag-od of fantastic creed, 

With turned up cornice like John's almond eyes, 

Where imag-ed Buddh preaches to imag-ed Gods, 

Or Bouzes burn g-ilt paper at their shrine 

Ting added to Ting for idol and for priest; 

Confucius honored with funereal fane 

Or Yin and Yang- father and mother of all. 

At Birs Nimroud see ruins eloquent 
Of old Assyria and of Babylon; 
The temple of the seven spheres that tells 
Of Nebuchodonosor and his reig-n, 
Its columns borne on backs of giant bulls 
Wing-ed and potent like the voice of g-ods. 
Or see the cactus land of Yucatan 
Kabah, Ake and Chicuenitza show 
Monastic life among- the Maya tribe 
Where Teocallis of Palenque, Uxmal, 
Record religion of the Toltec mild 
Succeeded by the cruel Aztec race 
Their altars drenched in human sacrifice. 
Taotl, ruler of the Universe forg-ot 
In worship of their bloody Mars. 

We tread where Karnac's temples strew the sand 



6 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

With giant blocks of granite; sphinxes vast, 

Ram-headed, five times five score guard the way 

'Tween this and Luxor, where the cataracts 

Of Nile are rivalled by tumultuous heaps, 

Pillar and propylon and cornice stone, 

Collossi vast and obelisk engraved, 

And Capitals where quite one hundred men 

Might stand secure. These admiration claim, 

But not our imitation or our love. 

No! nor thy matchless pyramid, O Cheops! 

Or sphinx gazing throug-h sixty centuries. 

From prehistoric ruins we withdraw, 

To gaze on architectures that have left 

The impress of their thought upon the world, — 

Egypt and Greece and Rome and Normandy. 

Our copy book the world. Set to the task. 

Since time, when driven from the g-arden brig-ht 

Our proto-parent felt the press of life, 

That weight that downward drag's, man's effort ever 

To evade the load, or, if the g-ods forbid, 

To find philosophy to bear it up. 

This the world dream of Buddha; he who found, 

Or thougiu he found, escape in dim Nirvana. 

'Twas but a dream. With daylight comes realitv. 

View we the problem solved as best they could 

By (littering- peoples in their differing- ways; 

Reading their architecture as our g-uide; 

For here a cognate question is presented: 



EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE 

u How shall we bear the weight of masonry?" 
And wonderfully does the style of art 
In every age and clime express the faith, 
More or less perfect in proportion ever 
As it approaches to the highest truth. 
It is not only that the spirit's flight 
Keeps equal pace with the material life, 
And architecture blooms as progress spreads; 
But since Religion— bond 'twixt God and man- 
Is found sole refuge from mortality, 
So our conception of the Deity 
Will mould the altar builded unto Him. 
Thus, unsurprised we see that He alone 
Is Alpha and Omega of this art. 
For architecture is not building- mere, 
The dwelling came— perhaps— before the Church 
But noble building; Master work the word; 
(Not having anything to do with arch. ) 
This first attempted, for the Deity, 
Its highest service ever given to Him. 
To Him the Hindu fane by Gungas' wave 
To Him the Angel's Dome by Tiber's side 
To Him thy pallid crown— Acropolis! 
To Him the "Marble prayer" of Eombardy. 
Ever to Him the fairest, costliest, best. 

EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 

Weight, weight, weight, weight, a crushing weight;- 
This the refrain of Egypt's thought and work. 



8 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Not weig-ht upborne with gladdened strength to bear 

But suffering- under load insufferable. 

Not Ossa piled on Pelion and Olympus 

Could crush with such o'erwhelming- mastery 

The earth and soul, as does her Pyramid. 

Why throw not off the load? Her Faith prevents. 

What has been must be. Fate is chiefest god. 

Look at her temple — Pyramid remultiplied! 

Her obelisks, those "Fingers of the Sun," 

Never for her pointing to hig-her thing-s. 

See yonder Fellah with his wicker pail 

Watering- that sand insatiable, or yon 

With Buffle team plowing- the slime for Durra. 

Stag-nant forever as the yellow pool! 

For Kismet still keeps Egypt's people low. 

GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 

Not thus. the Grecian building- bears its load — 

The load disguised not — but a load upheld 

With joying power. Those Doric columns there — 

See how the fluted shaft thins toward the top; 

Throwing- away, just where it meets the load, 

Strength it thus shows held in redundancy; 

Like Morphy or like Pilsbury at chess 

Giving- the odds — and winning-. 

And yet it rises not above the load: 

Content with earth and physical perfection 

It is of earth, and earthy; but of earth 



A^m^^_ ! w?^ftrr 




mm 'pi 

*'I m\ 


k.ttj f 

1 n II a 




5BJ|l^^ 


fi if 4 11 1 "U'i 


I 'i 1 IJi ' 'ml 


"•^^^y 




■ 





THE CLASSICAL GRECIAN— SO FAIR. 



GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE 9 

The perfectest that earth has ever seen 

Fairest that earth can see that will not gaze on 

Heaven. 
How well it fits to their relig-ious thought! 
The Plastic worship of Dame Nature's power: 
The deifying- of the beautiful and strong: 
Religion without shadow — like their skies 
Men of the golden age — Earth's infancy — 
Children not knowing life's realities — 
Haply forgetful of Death's mysteries — 
Too fair a dream to last. 

The Panathenic glory that streamed through 
The Temples of Acropolis, when games 
Kept all men young, making for very joy 
All life a playhouse, fitly represent 
That cult of joyous Pan, But "Pan is dead." 

And so we pass 

Contemplating, but not with tearless eye, 

The solitary shaft at Ephesus 

Where silent stork stands on one bloody leg, 

Or where the Parthenon in that repose 

That 'marks the manners of the great' uprears 

Its giant form against the violet sky, 

Suffering but deathless like Prometheus. 



10 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 

Greek Temple is a hero standing- lone: 

Limbs strong- if slig-ht, but shoulders broad like 

Jove's; 
Requiring- g-iant blocks of stone to build; 
Not many such in this deg-enerate time. 
The Roman takes the vulg-ar multitude, 
The uncounted fractions of the brick-yard clay 
And builds them to an arch — and spans the world! 
That arch more lasting- than the Roman's rule 
And spanning- more momentous gulfs by far 
Than his dominion of a thousand years; 
That arch triumphal, with processions greater 
Than Titus or Vespasian saw;— with song- 
Lacking- that diapason of bruised nations 
But resonant with pean. 

By Tiber blond 

See where the man of four souls* raised in air 

The Pantheon. Or first, where wave on wave 

Arno proceeds with pace of royalty, 

See Bruneleschi's dome rivalling- the Tuscan sky: 

The Ang-el to his rival by the Arno 

Giving the praise: "Poorer than that I will not 

Greater than that I cannot." 

This is the arch full-blossomed into Dome. 

kk The round arch nevermore can conquered be." 

Rome boasts, as of herself. Yet Rome has fallen. 

Still, mark that noble form till now unmatched, 

Her vanity condoning-, hear her sing-. 



'Michael Angelo. 




THE ARCH OF THREE DIMENSIONS. 



GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE n 

Song of the Roman Arch. 

"It comes with the arc of the blue day's light 
It comes with the spring- of the rainbow bright 
And with wedding- ring-'s circle of power. 

And it bridg-es the streams and it strides o'er the 

plain; 
In its arm is the river it sets down ag-ain 
For the fevered metropolis' dower: 

And it builds the Basilic, the circus encloses 
With tier above tier, where a nation reposes 
For gladiatorial show; 

And it swells to an arch of dimensions three— 
The Dome — that master work, deep as a sea 
With a heaven's light aglow. 

And solid its roads and triumphal its arches, 

It annihilates chasms, where the universe marches 

As it bows to our conquering rod; 

And'it stands in its might like a mountain rock"— 
But the saxifrage splits up the dolomite block, 
So upward, leaf-like, springs the Gothic of God. 

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 

"Not to destroy, but to fulfill"— yea verily 
There is the mission of evolving forms. 
This the prerogative of Gothic art; 
Retaining Nature; superadding grace: 
Keeping the body with its strength, in time; 



12 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Adding- the soul and beauty and eternity: 

Keeping- the eloquence and joy of Greece; 

Keeping the stability of Rome; but adding- 

The upward streaming- force of Gothic prayer. 

Of prayer so Catholic that all voices blend; 

And Normandy Cologne and Spain 

Within this architecture find a place, 

Grotesqueness of the Italian school 

Tempered by England's grace. 

Man feels in his soul a religious gloom: — 

A mystery of life, not a funeral pall — 

Speaking louder of Heaven than itspeaksof the tomb; 

He finds it expressed in yon forest of larch; 

And he builds its dimness to temple wall; 

And he finds the form of his doorway tall 

Where elm-tree aisle suggests the gothic arch. 

And his need of petition makes the arches there 

Clasp overhead like fingers in prayer; 

While aspiration springs higher and higher, 

Advancing on crockets, like wavelets of fire, 

To that arrowy flight of finial and spire. 

The ecstasy over, returning- to earth 

He toils on in patient content, 

Seeing Nature so lavish of beautiful forms, 

And covers his structure with ornament. 

The later styles need not delay our work. 

O Renaissance! The birth anew. Of what? 

Of the old Adam? We must build on Christ. 



TUDOR ARCHITECTURE 13 

See that elaborate Tudor ceiling! 

Florid blossoming! — 

Ornament run wild: — 

Richness overpiled— 

Faith controlled by feeling: 

Rich in decoration; 

Fine aspiring- spring-; 

But anon toward earth returning-. 

For the wonted flesh-pots yearning; 

Like discouraged little soul 

Seeking human consolation, 

Missing highest goal. 

How shall we choose out of all these designs that 

proffer their service? 
Who shall decide whether lily or rose or harebell 

be fairest? 
Whether the elm or the oak or the chestnut be 

grandest of outline? 
Whether our Milton or Dante or Virgil be sweetest 

in singing? 

'Tis not alone what is fairest we seek but that 
which is fittest. 

Fitter the bluebell to swing o'er the lichen-clad rock 
in the Highlands 

Fitter the rose for the bridal, the lily for bier of the 
virgin. 

Fit only for Christian church architecture express- 
ing the Christian. 



14 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Back to the thralldom of Egypt — its palpable dark- 
ness we turn not: 

Glad to escape from the ponderous crush of its pyr- 
amid coffin; 

Even the classical Grecian — so fair — we relinquish 
— but sighing: 

Sigh that the chaste is not fruitful. Except where 
the shadowing Dove 

Quickens to mystery highest. "Concepit de Spiritu 
Sancto." 

The Renaiscence Mongrel, well meaning, has proved 

an abortion: 
Moorish a fairy tale, beautiful still, but ignoring 

man's burden: 
Rome and Byzantium have conquered by force; but 

the Christian ideal — 
Divinity raising man's life above mere mortal estate, 
Free will and grace, aspiration and love, are found 

in the Gothic. 

PARADOX. 

Can heat come any whence but from the South? 
Can any good from Nazareth be seen? 
Gothic! Term of reproach in classic mouth 
Comes to build temple for the Nazarene. 



SPIRIT OF TRUTH 15 

Four Genii with their lamps ablaze 
Four Spirits raying- light forever 
Illume the earth and guide aright 
Each work of high endeavor: 
Will-o'-the-wisp all other lig-ht. 
Poorer than best we may not raise- 
Then call we down these ministrants 
And learn their ways. 

Truth of the single eye and valiant tong-ue, 
And Beauty of the winning- smile 
That keeps the worlds forever young-, 
Then Sacrifice of quick and g-enerous hand,— 
Eager with all to share — 
And Worship of the earth-bowed head 
But of the heavenward prayer. 

SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 

Urim and Thummim is mine: 

Truth am I called by men; 

Make thy work worthy to shine 

On the breast-plate of earth ag-ain. 

Banished thence by the hand of sham 

In other words untruth, (to God least like, 

That God whose thrilling- "I am who am" 

Tells of the endless and all seeing-) 

The would-be saint with phylacteries broad 

Forevermore lacking- the prime g-ood of being-, 

Install her not here with her stolen gaud 



16 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

In a house for the Deitj framed: 
But Truth in her humbler dress, 
Even me in mj scantiness 
Naked but unashamed. 
Let deceptions and cheats give place: 
Be these to those temples confined 
Where is worshipped the father of lies; 
Here every line and color and space 
Must come freighted with Truth to the eyes 
And the mind of him who has mind. 
Wood not ashamed to be wood, 
Brick not ashamed to be clay, 
Stone not denying its weight, 
Slate not blushing from grey. 
No matter if rough — but build we so strong 
That the rock pre-adamite, simple and rude 
May remember the mountain from which it was 
hewed. 

How hard to keep the perfect truth! 

How easy verity to dim! 

It ofttimes seems in very sooth 

But cruelty or bigot whim. 

Well-meaning zeal misrepresents 

And coward caution fears: 

While pity hides it with her veil 

Love blinds it with her tears. 

But be thou strong: 

Fear doing more than seeming wrong 

And wait the verdict of the years. 




WHERE ELM TREE AISLE SUGGESTS 
THE GOTHIG ARCH. 



SPIRIT OF BEAUTY 17 

SPIRIT OF BEAUTY. 

"And man lives not by body's food alone." 
"Had I two loaves," the great Mohammed said, 
"I would sell one and buy me hyacinths: 
Beauty to me more needful than the bread." 

Spirit Beauty! thou dost woo me 
I consent to be thy bride, 
Gushing-s of thy spirit through me 
Flow more swift than Severn's tide 
Thine will I be, none's beside; * 
Strongly, sweetly, draw me to thee 
That I there abide. 

Throug-h God's world the Spirit Beauty 
Makes a wonderous sound 
Dropping- from cerulian heaven 
Springing- from the marshy ground. 
Some to ail-where, all to no-where, 
Ever on her mission bent; 
With divine impartialness 
Giving- g-ifts most different. 

Sibyl leaves around me strown 
Are this Spirit Beauty's lines, . 
Hers to scatter: mine to weave 
To a whole whose mystery twines 
Meaning-s wonderful 
To her votaries shown. 

*With acknowledgments to the unknown, who recited these lines over 
60 years ago. As they, I think, have never been in print, I thought well to 
rescue them from oblivion. 



18 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The Mind Church. 

Colored like a morning-, and chiselled like a shell; 
Perfect as a saint, jet with a siren's spell; 
Radiant as a planet and as a ruby brig-ht; 
Soothing as a g-loaming-, sacred as a nig-ht; 
Soft as cypress hush upon the church-yard air; 
Holy as a presence, aspiring- as a prayer; 
Fairy as a frost-work and as a dream ideal, 
But deathless as a soul and as a substance real; 
Polished as a travelled pebble, yet fretted like a 

fern; 
Subtile as a perfume when orient spices burn; 
Living as an elm-tree, expanding- as a flower 
In variety eternal, only Heaven's dower — 
This the vision that from starry reg-ions beckons 

unto me 
That I fain would make to ling-er for all eyes to see. 

SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE. 

Spirit! who taug-htest Psalmist king- of old 

To slake Adullam's dust 

With water dang-er-broug-ht from Bethlehem's wall, 

Give us the soul robust 

No sacrifices can»appal, 

That in this church not stones and pelf 

We build alone, but that we build ourself. 

"I will not offer to the Lord my God 

That' which has cost menaug-ht." O worthy King-! 



SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE 19 

Thou piercest to the very marrow of a gift, 
Which is the giving-. First of flocks and fields 
Jehovah asked, but only to enlarge 
To god-like greatness heart of him who gave. 
Compare that other tone of Prophet's voice: 
"And some he used for timber, some for fire 
And with the residue he made a god." 
Is it the refuse we would bring to Him? 

Gold==or Copper==or Life. 

To Sinai's foot with gold they came 
To make the calf of Israel's shame. 
To-day the world as then still brings 
Its preciousest to earthly things. 
The gold of wealth, the gold of thought 
With these life's vanities are bought; 
No thought of right proportion given 
The copper coin alone for Heaven. 

Go! stand by Karnak's sculptured halls: 

Count o'er in those Cyclopean walls 

The record of her sacrifice; 

One life for every stone! 

And see how dwarfed our pigmy hand 

Beside her temple doors that rise 

A hundred feet above Nile's strand 

In silent majesty alone! 

What word will our contempt express? 

The very negroes shame our niggardness. 

Or view the giant block in Baalbec's sand, 



20 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Unused since men grew puny. Then atone: 
Rise from the littleness that round you drifts 
To greatness of your stature. Quit the strife 
For that which rust and moth consume 
And build to this His fane, not merely gold but life. 

SPIRIT OF WORSHIP. 

Spirit of Worship hover nigh! 
No spirit of debasement thine: 
The reverence for what is high 
Raises the worshipper — and shrine. 
And as before it reach the sky 
The palm in earth must sprout 
So bowed and low "Confiteor" cry 
Before the tk Sanctus" shout. 

And both are worship. For the pendulum swings 

In undulations long 

Twixt "Veneremur Cernui" 

And "Sursum corda" hig-h and strong". 

Chasten the soul that seeks to rise 

To mysteries divine 

Nor offer to the gods in sacrifice 

The fruit of unpruned vine. 

To bow the head and bend the knee, 
That is naught to God -or thee. 
But bow the mind and bend the will — 
Then you righteousness fulfill. 



CHOOSING THE SITE 21 

CHOOSING THE SITE. 

"The Lord's House shall be established in the top of the mountains." 
Mich. 4. 

Set the candle on the stick — 

For its sheen! 

Set the city on the hill — 

That it be seen: 

Set the church above the crowd — 

That it may reign: 

Let it fling- its radiance proud — 

Far and plain 

On the great controllingly, 

While on those of low estate 

Its smile rests consolingly. 

Thus the promised kingdom bring: 

Great the sheepfold shall be made: 

Great the Pastor: in his shade 

Great flock shepherding. 

'•Fundamenta ejus in montibus Sanctis" 

Foundations hers upon the holy hills. 
Not one but many mountains form her throne: 
She stands on Sinai with its peak of stone 
And though the desert sands continual shift 
God's voice uptowering 'bove the senseless drift 
With "shalt" and "shalt not" thrills. 

Here leafy Olivet of prayer and creed 
Keeps her breath sweet with oil of gladness; 
And Thabor's radiant glories speed 



22 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Feet that still tread the vale of sadness. 

On Horny Hattin backed by boulders rude 

She rests, grass-cushioned, hearing- words that bless; 

Commandment mellowed to Beatitude, 

With penalty for failure, changed 

To bendiction on success. 

And in Jerusalem is her abode: 

Outside the gates where flinty mountains rise 

She stands like Mary on the mount He trod 

The Calvary place, altar of sacrifice. 

Nor less from western hills her voice is cast 

Fulfilling- the commission: "Teach all lands." 

Where Tiber flows above a pag-an past 

On the Janiculum of golden sands 

(Sainted with Tasso's laurelled memories 

Laurel exchanged for g-olden rose of Heaven) 

Stands the new Janus — Peter with his keys, 

For opening- celestial portals g-iven: 

And yet not this alone — 

For from the Vatican, upon the breeze 

Floats oracle of unambiguous tone: 

While fable tells the story of the Ark 

Here resting- from its voyage long. While we 

Beneath the legend may find verity. 

Oh mountained Rome! thou dost the shipwrecked 

lure; 
Oh Holy Church! the truer ark art thou 
With clean and unclean housed secure 



SERMONS AND TEXTS 23 

For unclean's cleansing-. L,o! we bow 
To thee, O Leo thirteenth, Pontiff wise, 
The "Ecce Homo" of the centuries. 

"Ueber alle Gipfeln ist Ruh\" 

On every heig-ht is rest: 
The climbing- tires; but falter not: 
This slope is awkward halting- spot: 
Attain the summit and be blest. 
On Ida's top is learning-'s calm; 
Olympus sees the g-ods at peace; 
In saintship passion finds surcease; 
Cassino's cloisters yield a balm, 
By foot world-disillusioned pressed. 
The hig-hest hears not envy's flout: 
E'en Calvary stilled the rabble shout. 
On every heig-ht is rest. 

SERMONS AND TEXTS. 



God's Call. 

Is it time to live in dwelling- 
All with g-old and g-ems ornate 
With its roof-tree proudly swelling-, 
While My House lies desolate? 

Pull the city is of people; 
But they come not to the Feast; 
With the call-bell rocks no steeple; 
Israel is like a beast, 



24 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Head to earth on food intent, 
Downward gazing-, upward never, 
With the present life content. 
Shall this blindness last forever? 

Prophet! raise the voice of warning- 
Tell my people of their sin; 
Breaketh now the better morning 
Let the higher day begin. 

The Preacher. 

How long shall the nations utter the taunt 
"Where now is their God, the God of their trust? 
Where now is their hope? where now is their vaunt?" 
His temple is prostrate. See it there in the dust. 

In the hands ofthe Philistines rusteth the ark; 
For them it nor guidance nor radiance hath; 
While our footsteps have stumbled, our light has 

grown dark, 
For the Lord was erstwhile both our light and our 

path. 

"Those are things of the past." Oh modern world, 

No! 
The heart is Philistia or Israel jet. 
Choose your camp: on forever the battle must go: 
But one side is the Lord God's: do not forget. 

See ye the Fanes that around ye are made 
To Moloch and Venus, to Bacchus and Pan? 



SERMONS AND TEXTS 25 

Shall the sacrifice all on their altars be laid 

And none to the God, who for man was made man? 

If I climb to my couch of silk and gold shotten 
If I give to my limbs the sweet sleep of the blessed 
May my eyelids and brain be of slumber forgotten 
If I find not first place for the Holy to rest. 

My text is: give that you may live: 
Let every soul perceive its meetness. 
Give quickly, — then you doubly give: 
Give willingly — you taste its sweetness. 
Give proudly, —how your gift will shine! 
Give humbly, too, as to the Lord: 
But oh! give not vaingloriously 
To take the quick and poor reward. 
Give little, those whose store is scant; 
Nor think it makes your little less; 
Lending to God you shall not want, 
To give to Him is blessedness. 
Bring lavishly, ye rich, your opulence 
Make measure of your giving; 
With no sophistical pretence 
Your consciences deceiving; 
Where God has been munificent 
There God will much expect; 
The mite in widow's offering praised 
Prom Dives is reject. 



26 THE BUILDING OP A CHURCH 

Ye spend yourselves in futile giving 

Ye strive and build and scheme and sin 

Ye lack the truer soul within 

Ye miss the inner core of living — 

Your wealth a bauble and your fame a toy 

The nation multiplied, but not the joy. 

Then arise O God's people! arise at the voice! 

Let a great added beauty our city rejoice. 

In place of the ashes a garland of gold, 

And a garment of praise, for the sackcloth of old. 

Or think ye the hand of Jehovah is shortened, 

Now that commerce and politics rule in our land? 

'Tis for us to quicken new ages of wonder 

By the faith that inviting will strengthen His hand. 

The Destroyer our memory may quickly efface; 
But here shall our Faith to the ages be told: — 
Like a radiance that travels forever through space 
When the orb that transfused it is cold. 

"We'll build so grand that future centuries 

Will think us mad." And yet we gaze today 

On the Giralda's grace; its matchless size 

And say: Here was true sanity. 

The madness is in building for an hour 

And lose eternal prize. 

So build we that the generations late 

Viewing our temple here 



SERMONS AND TEXTS 27 

May say with Mrs. Siddons — muse and oracle, 

Before Apollo Belvedere: 

"I see that God is great 

Who can create 

Men to achieve such miracle." 

"Scio cui credidi," 

To "the unknown God" the Athenians reared 

Their altar of Parian stone. 

They built of their best 

In darkness confessed — 

But we to the Lord we have known. 

Our finger has lovingly touched all His wounds, 
Our hand in His side was laid; 
And we saw His form on the rising storm, 
And we heard the words: "Be not afraid." 

So from perfecter knowledg-elet greater love spring-, 

Enlarging- our work to its due; 

That in far-away day 

Of us they may say: 

"This people loved Him whom they knew." 



28 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

OBJECTIONS. 

And wherefore should we raise 

This temple of man's hands? 

Why not our notes of praise 

Swell on the desert sands? 

Or in the leafy shrine 

Of Druid holms 

Or by the steepled pine? 

Or 'neath the chestnut domes? 

The part is often greater than the whole: 
Not all can see God in the burning- bush 
Of sunset's fire or in the thunder's roll; 
Not all can love Him in the twilig-ht's hush, 
Or know His eyes in multitudinous lig-ht 
Of myriad stars. Nature's infinity 
Lost by its very vastness to his sigmt 
Must focussed be for man's infirmity. 
As in some distant shrine of Hind is seen 
The g-od — a shade in midst of its own light— 
So God is often hid, I ween, 
l)v nature's face too dazzling- brig-ht. 

Worldly Wisdom No. I. 

"A public meeting must be held of course, 
To find the 'sense' of the community. 
Majorities must rule. They are the source 



OBJECTIONS . 29 

Of power and wisdom ever and thus we 
Whom public censure else might well assail 
Escaping- with immunity 
Are blameless if this matter fail. 
The bankers and saloon men are a force 
And Dives sure must take priority 
As chairman of the gathering." — Go your ways! 
Tell me no more what prating- Demos says, 
That Despotism of ten thousand tong-ues; 
With God one voice is a majority! 

Worldly Wisdom No. 2. 

"And then with sociables and dances 

With picnic and with festival 

With grab-bag-s and with selling- chances — 

We're going- to have them all — 

Dished up by women talkative 

With ball and dress parade 

With making all the merchants give 

For fear to lose our trade — 

(I don't see why for this they're spiteful!) 

The money we will raise 

In manner most delightful 

To every worldling's praise." 

And thrilling comes the sentence of the Lord: 

"Amen! amen! They have received reward." 



30 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Worldly Wisdom No. 3. 

"I'll give five hundred dollars for a window 
With my name writ in large." How large will look, 
From the perspective of eternity 
That lettering- in God's book? 

Worldly Wisdom No. 4. 

"We do not need a church." 
Does not the sacred tome 
Say that in truest home 
No altar is, nor priest, 
No temple and no feast 
Of viands visible, 
No sacrifice, no prayer; 
For God is all in all? 
Friend! we are not yet there. 

Worldly Wisdom No. 5. 

"It might have been given to the poor." 
Not these are the words of Christ. 
How they rankle like a curse 
In him who exploits them today; 
They are the words of the purse 
That holds itself shut alway. 

The while one hungry mouth pleaded, 
While lay one head unblessed, 
While sickness moaned, wanting our care, 
While one orphan passed unheeded, 



INVITATION TO NATURE 31 

Without a home of rest; — 

Our work — God's work — lay there. 

But now is the poverty fed 

And comforted is the pain, 

And a roof o'er the orphan's head, — 

Let us open our bible ag-ain: 

And perhaps — if we look — we may see 

That the Saviour's command was twofold: 

And the first was, "Give to the poor," 

And the second was, "Follow me!" 

So from "hearer" becoming- "doer" 

Prom the dust of humanity's street 

Like Mary we come with our ointment 

And lavish it on His feet. 

INVITATION TO NATURE. 

Bless the Lord ever, O you His creation, 
Bring of your best all ye works of His hand; 
Praise the Lord, mountains poised on foundation 
Firm as His promise, eternal to stand. 

Voice of the Lord God breaketh the cedar! 
Will ye not rather bend to His smile 
Into gracefuller folds than the tenting-s of Kedar 
Yea! to the curve of our rare Gothic aisle? 

Clap your hands! clap your hands! hills with the 

heather; 
Glory of Libanus come to our aid; 



32 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Fir tree and oak tree and pine tree tog-ether 
Lend of your robur, lend of your shade. 
First born of God! Light, almost immortal; 
Shine as you shone on that 'mountain apart* 
Enter by window and enter by portal 
Transfiguring our work and transforming our heart. 

As tribute wealth comes to the g-ate 
Inflowing from a hundred lands 
To make the empire great, 
The Plain, the Mountain and the Sea 
Three Magi rich with g-enerous hands 
Their treasures bring- to me. 

Song of the Colors. 

The first fiat of Godhead created 
The parent from whom we spring-; 
'Tis fitting that we Lig"ht's daughters 
First tribute of praise should bring-. 

We praised Him, His footstool adorning- 
Before temple or altar uprose, 
We praised Him in pearl in day's morning-, 
We praised Him in gold at day's close. 

We praised Him in green in spring tide 
In the red of summer's g"low, 
We praised Him in russet of leaf-fall, 
We praised Him in white of snow. 




IN ITS ARMS IS A RIVER. 



SONGS 33 

We praised Him in blue in the South Sea, 
We praised Him in purple mists rolled 
Round the axis of earth in the iceberg-, 
And with none but Himself to behold, 

We rushed to His arms in the North-light, 
Or, abashed, and retreating- slow 
We danced for his pleasance on wave crests 
And blushed in the rainbow's glow. 

And if we rejoiced in our duty 
To g-leam on his vesture's hem 
In creation's quite outermost zone, 
How gladly we come with our beauty 
To stand by His altar throne. 



THE HOUNTAIN QUARRY. 

"And in the mountain will our God be seen." 
"The great strong wind with the Lord behind, 
Overthrowing the mountain and breaking the rock; 
And after the cyclone the earthquake rude: 
But the Lord is not in the sweeping wind, 
And not in the earthquake shock. 

And after the earthquake the fire's flare, 

That Baalim's priests rejoice: 

And after the fire the whispering air: 

And the Lord is not in the scorching glare; 

But alone in the still small voice." Kings III, 19. 



34 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Song of the Quarry. 

Like pleading- of the prostrate obelisks 

That came to Pius, sixth of name*, 

These rocky domes from bedded homes 

With supplicating- voice exclaim: 

"Will we give of our stone for this Temple you 



raise 



V 



Can you build to compare with our present estate? 
Can you add any leaf to our garland of bays 
Or enhance our old past? For its history is great. 
Unstirred by the whirlwind, unsinged by the levin 
See how solid we rest. No tempest can shake us; 
Our feet in the earth, but our forehead in Heaven; 
Gladly we give of our strength. Do not make us 
To palsied presentment of what is now grand. 
Yes! take of our rock. But lest heathendom mock 
What alway was closed with the modestest vesture, 
Ashamed in hewn nakedness let us not stand. 
How noble the sermon that sweeps through our 

larches! 
How like to tall steeples yon fir trees uprise! 
How tender the light through those cedern arches! 
How bird song and brook song thrills to the skies! 
How St. Flora and daughters smile down from their 

niches! 
Bow each crevice and nook in adornment rejoices! 

* Supplica (/' i oh liscM giaa nti. Abbe Cancellieri. 



SONGS 35 

O spoil not the riches! 
O quench not the beauty! 
O still not the voices! 
But take of our store, 
We welcome the duty, 
Take the mountain as model, we ask for no more. 

Song of the Cedars. 

We have stood on the heights as the ages went by, 
Past our base has humanity streamed; 
We have seen the tribes to captivity led, 
We have seen those tribes redeemed. 

Like St. Christoph of old we vowed our strength 
Alone to the great and strong-; 
And conquorers rose, — but we found them men, — 
And now we have tarried long-, 

Our heads with the centuries hoar. 
Gladly we come to this temple you rear: 
We gave to the son of King David of yore, 
Behold! greater than Solomon here. 

Song of the Pines. 

"Why is your susurrus soft 
Like the hush of mother's care? 
Or that sweet slow minstrelsy — 
Wordless praise and prayer 
That erstwhile in Bethlehem 



36 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Shepherds offered there?" 

We have trained our muted voices 

To the self-same theme; 

Thinking- that— perhaps— we might — 

Is it a vain dream? 

Even in this western wild 

Spread our branches blessingly 

Over maiden mild; 

Clothe with love caressingly 

Little swaddled child. 

So we keep our verdure greening 

Through December frore: 

If the prodigal returning 

Tastes the choicest store 

Shall the virgin with her night-lamp 

Trimmed and ever burning 

Be denied the door? 

Let us find within His feast-room 

Place forevermore. 

Song of the Firs. 
Like the candlestick golden of God T s own design 
See the arc that our branches make! 
On the lower heights we have left the pine — 
We must come to Him nearer whose name we take 
The kl God tree"* of Himalay, 

Tipped with flame the last at the fall of the night, 
Tipped with flame the first in the day. 
Allies deodora. 



SONGS 37 

Song of the Mine. 

We have hoarded it long - , with a hand brave and 

strong- 
This tribute of g-old that we bring - . 
We deemed it not rig-ht that a metal so brig-ht 
Should be used for one lower than King-. 

Of stones too we offer. Refuse not our proffer; 
For adorning - His vestments' hem. 
The ruby may blaze with the heartiest rays 
But slig-ht not the humbler g-em; 

The opal's soft fire, let it too aspire 

With topaz of yellowest hue, 

With the blue and the green and the aquamarine 

That tint that partakes of the two. 

From out the depth of saddest soul 
The song- of joy will sometimes pour — 
So from the darksome caverned mine 
Comes the gold's g-leaming- store. 

Then bring- the joy and bring- the g-old, 
And each shall take a radiance new 
From standing- in the presences 
That fill the Blue. 

Chorus. 
We come from the fountain, we come from the moun- 
tain, 
We come from the depths beneath; 



38 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

We bring- iron's strength and we bring- gold's light 

And the dim religious shade, the breath 

Of the forest aisles in their clustered piles, 

With opal of glooming, and silver of day; 

But one prayer rises loud on our lips as we crowd 

Round the horn of His altar adored, 

It sings itself ever like mountain-fed river: 

"This alone do we ask of the Lord 

That we dwell in His Temple alway." 

Our Trinity. 

The Trinity alone creates: 

And so, our church to rear, 

Must Power, Wisdom, Love, 

All speak their fiat here. 

Lending a triple aid: 

The mountain block to move in space: 

The whole to plan with compassed law: 

And beautify with grace. 

Love brings those graces to our side, 

Charites called — themselves a trinity; 

Not those that Athens deified— 

Thalia, Aglae, Euphrosyne, — 

But daughters of Divinity. 

First Architecture with her compass there 

Copying the canopy of tented Heaven, 

With mallet and with chisel Sculpture fair 

And Painting with her light-born colors seven. 



BUILDING' 39 

The Corner Stone. 

The Pontiff comes with mitred head 
And crosier outward turned;* to lay 
Corner of king-dom new; and led 
As on that Solomonian day, 
When Salem's Temple rose, 
By joyous song- and reverent dance 
With smoke from g-olden censers flung-, 
With all the pomp of circumstance 
And Hallel seven times sung-. 

"Unless the Lord God edify 

The builders work in vain." 

Yea! But He standeth near! 

So workmen have no fear! 

He is the corner stone; 

We build on Him alone; 

He maketh both to one — 

Uniting Salem's with Gerizim's mount; 

And as from Dog-ma's fount 

Rise ceremonies, prayer and song-, 

So sculptured frieze and arrowy spire 

Rest on foundations strong-. 

Half=Done Things. 

Son of Man, shall these bones live? Ezek. 27. 

A booby passed today 
Along- our way 

In art a Bishop's crosier is turned out ; an Abbot's in; a good hint! 



40 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Where piled confusedly 

The Church materials lay. 

Voussoir and architrave 

With rubble-stone in-mixed, 

Cords Of ashlar ready cut 

With capitals betwixt, 

Plinth and apophyge — 

So lies Caphernaum, 

Its music dumb, 

Strewn round the shore of Galilee! 

He gazed in — "Aw! I say, 

If ask I may, 

Will these things make a church?" 

Children and fools the half-done should not see. 

Make a church? My dear boy, No! 

It is the spirit sole 

Can make a whole 

Out of the scattered fragmentsjof mortality; 

And so 

The architect 

Will cause to stand erect 

Each block now prone, 

And give to every stone 

Undying, eloquent vitality. 

The Derrick. 

And more is done by planning than by force, 
If only we the fitting measures try. 
Zethos would toil the heavy stones to raise, — 
Amphion moves them by his harmony. 




MOORISH— A FAIRY TALE. 



BUILDING 41 

The Stone Cutter. 

To the time of the mallet's stroke, 
To the tune of the chisel's ring, 
The old man his life tale spoke 
The rough block fashioning. 

"Since out of the womb I came 
Time did my forehead smite, 
And I knew not the smiter's aim, 
I felt but the chisel's bite. 

And the mallet fell early and late 
And it crushed my budding plan; 
And I said 'this is merest hate 
This action of God on man.' 

But the chisel that galled me all day 
And the mallet that stunned with its din, 
Gave more than they took away — 
Gave the perfecter form within. 

For out from the mist of the pain 
Came the face of the Christ to show 
That the loss of our life is gain 
That the corn must die ere it grow. 

And thus, with love's sweetest unspoken, 
I, bowing beneath His rod, 
Know my dearest idol broken 
But to leave the place for God," 



42 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The Fly=Wheel. 

"No need of Faith" the. sneering- sceptic says: 

"Reason sufficing- allwhere and always." 

Look at that heavy wheel, apparently 

Consuming fast the engine's energy, 

And doing naught but keep the motion even. 

And is that nothing in this jerky world 

Where life is alternating ebb and flow? 

Though certainty and trust are normal states 

There is a point in soul machinery — 

A dead-point — now of doubt, now of despair: 

Faith is the balance-wheel carrying us safe through 

both. 
Bridging the interval 'twixt hope and hope 
And joining certainty to certainty, 
While tired reason passive waits the turn. 

Progress. 

A gradual psalm our building moves along: 

Forward and upward to majestic chant, 

With rhythm of Queen's feet beautiful 

Upon the heights. Dost hear its raptured swell? 

Heard melodies of earth are sweet to sense: 

Oh! sweeter far those symphonies of Heaven 

Unheard — save of the soul. 

A mother when her darling boy 
Salutes her forehead white 
With kissed good night, 



BUILDING 43 

Pleased, proud, she notes with joy 
A something- added to his height, 
A luster new upon the shining- hair, 
A beauty new upon the radiant face, 
(Making- still fairer what was fair, ) 
A dawning- thoug-ht within his eyes 
Like eastern lig-ht that grows apace, 
A growing- streng-th upon his lips- 
Instant to hers the words arise 

"As he in stature grows, oh may he grow in grace!" 
So grows our church, and so ascends our prayer. 

Patience. 

Cycles untold it took 

To shape this earth for man. 

Shall we then look 

To compass by a span? 

To accomplish in a day? 

Omnipotence rebukes 

Our hurried way. 

If true our books 

Koeln's Dom six hundred years 

Required since it beg-an; 

And only in our day 

Did its tall spires essay 

To reach the blue, 

That smiles above the Rhine, 

Ripening- its wine, 

Keeping- its beauty new. 



44 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Suspense. 

A month of disappointment and delay. 

A Strike! the turning- of the worm heel-crushed; 

The cry of labor for the 'something more;' 

Not now the privilege to work, but rest. 

Not ours the blame, yet is the damage ours; 

We sail in common and must thus partake 

Of modern ills: the rivalry between 

Labor and capital; forgetfulness 

Of God's commandment and of brother's right. 

Today all is adjusted and thank God! 
Our Navicella rides the storm serene. 

While grow .the walls, how grows our being's stat- 
ure? 
Each human spirit is an architect 
Building to beautiful and true and good 
In varying measure his progressive life, 
With matter gathered from a thousand fields 
From home experience or from foreign saw. 
Dwarfing by meanness, or by passion wrecking; 
Building alone the cellar, with its vermin, 
Or glorious towering into heaven's blue 
The rich world made by his life richer; 
Eternity itself gaining an added charm. 



BUILDING 45 

In front of Milan's marble wonder 

A peasant stood and gazed in pride: 

"What lovely church we builded yonder!" 

''We!" with a sneer the nabob cried. 

"What did you do?" "I mixed the mort." 

Ah Friend! restrain the ill retort. 

This man had done his little best, 

And that is much. Hast thou done more? 

So hod-man ply thy tool with zest 

The future holds thy praise in store. 

Song of the Mortar=Makers. 
We may not see the steeple hig*h 
Lift up the swinging- bell 
To hurl its joyance to the sky 
Or lengthen sorrow's knell — 
But what is that to me and thee? 
Mioo we our mortar well. 

Yon tablet's marble front you see 
The master's name will tell 
When we shall all forgotten be 
Locked in some nameless kell — 
But what is that to thee and me? 
Mijc we our mortar well. 

Mayhap that here some Luther wight 

Inspired by envious Hell 

May "spread himself" and not the light — 

"A sorry sentinel" — 

But what is that to thee and me? 

Mix we our mortar well. 



46 THE BUILDING OP A CHURCH 

The babj born to me last night 

Its fate who can foretell? 

Shall it be dark, shall it be bright? 

A throne, or dung-eon cell? — 

But what is that to thee and me? 

Mix we our mortar well. 

If we but knew that Heaven were near 

If we could only see 

Day lily in the asphodel 

And Faith get rid of fear — 

But what is that to thee and me? 

Mix we our mortar well. 

The Doorway. 
We work in exultation, 
And chanting, as we raise 
These walls that are salvation, 
These gateways that are praise. 
The Temple's veil is rent in twain; 
Closed will be God's house never: 
The inmost adytum is plain 
To mortal sight forever. 
So make your portals high and wide, 
With aspect all inviting; 
The Christian Church is: Time and Tide 
Epiphany reciting. 

kk Is our life to be paved and our temple floor 
With marble eterne, or with wood?" 
To what would you enter? yourselves make the door: 
Then make it to noble and srood. 



CANTOS Y SANTOS 47 

CANTOS Y SANTOS. 

Stones and Saints : the legend of the city Avila. 
Life's glory is revealed in work and pain: 
Shall we ingloriously that gain refuse? 
I wonder not at what men will to suffer; 
I wonder much at what they will to lose. 

The Sculptor. 

The block of unhewn stone before me lies: 
In whose name strike it with the rod? 
Within are thousand possibilities. 
Shall it bring- forth a devil or a god? 

O Hymn! that sings' itself unbid 

But finds expression none; 

O form of beauty in this marble hid 

Which I must seek alone! 

O how shall that be heard? 

how shall this be shown? 

But still the poet wrestles with the word, 
And still the sculptor hammers at his stone. 

1 made an impatient stroke today: 
And work on which for weeks I toiled 
Vainly my prowess to display, 

All wrecked and mutilated lay; — 
A life by one sin spoiled. 



48 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

I made an awkward stroke today: 

And though it cost much time and care, 

My slip was Providence's way, — 

My work was rounded by delay, 

To pattern much more fair. 

Imperfection. 

The Creator saw that His work was good 
Nor willed to make it to better or best: 
That the law of all life might be effort, 
And all judgment be Mercy blest. 

So these capital blocks and these tympanum stones 
We leave in the rough for the artist to come; 
To be carven to perfectness slowly, by toil; — 
Evolution of language from forms that were dumb. 

Compensation. 

We may not tread the mountain far 

With 'Sons of thunder' and the 4 Man of rock' 

To see the Christ transfigured there: — 

But where the grass and flowers are 

Can sit among the numbered flock 

And kneel with Him in prayer. 

Equality. 
Poor accidental gifts, the rich and proud 
May have, by grace of Heaven; 
Never let envy mention these: 
Great thiners to all are driven. 



BUILDING 49 

Great love surprises with bis sweeping- wing- 
The unlikeliest lowliest heart; 
Great sun, great air, great sea, great nig-ht; 
In these all men have part. 

I've seen on altars of the costliest shrines 
The Hidden Savior rest: — 
The Chapel up among the pines 
Receives the self same Guest. 

Effort. 

As in the dense compacted ashen groves 

A tree shoots upward to the air and blue 

With stem long--drawn seeking- the sun it loves; 

So from the crowded town our temple grew: 

So from the body's frailties it behooves 

Thy spirit stretch to heig-hts of g-ood and true. 

Inequality. 

Why are there rich? Why are there poor? Why 

not 
An equal distribution of life's load? 
That man himself may make equality 
That some may share with others and with God. 
And God has diverse occupation, 
For some the calm, for some the strife; 
For some the ocean's contemplation 
For some the river's active life. 



50 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

No land forlorn. With church or cloistered pile 

Each spot Religion rills; 

St. Bernard gladding- the lowlands, 

St. Benedict blessing the hills. 

To human face my Temple grows: — 
The door — a mouth which welcome gives; 
The tower — strong and prominent nose; 
And windows — eyes where starlight lives. 
And like life's actions, deathless every one 
Immortal wrinkles furrow every stone. 

As flowers spring from last year's battlefield, 
Each nook and coigne blossoms to sculptured saint 
On ax-hewn ground-work of our rougher wall, 
And we, their brothers, being with each acquaint, 
Some seem as sentries guardian of the heights 
Some keep the step of march for those behind; 
Michael— Christian Apollo— here destroys 
The Python round our Eden's life tree twined; 
There St. Sebastian slays the pestilence 
As Phebus' arrows shot Miasma through; 
There Catherine with wheel and book — 
Urania and Minerva too — 
And all things turn to good in God — 
The groan of saint— the joy of seraphim — 
While Stephen's stones build up the church 
Cecilia chants the triumph hymn. 



BUILDING 51 

The Cross. 

I see the cross in yon larch's bough; 
I see the cross in the mustard bloom; 
I see the cross in the loosestrife leaf, 
And the cross in the ash-tree's plume. 

I see the cross in the heavenly swan 
And the cross in the crystal's sheen; 
I see it again in the sponge's gold 
And again in the shamrock's green. 

And gleaming afar from the colored hills* 

I see it salute the wave; 

Then crown with a cross — for the cross is the crown 

For all this side of the grave. 

Shall my life alone be amorphous? 

Shall I for whom He died 

While the cross is impressed on Nature's breast 

Be least like the Crucified? 

His image primal upon you was graved. 

And as your growing life 

Rises above the clod 

Like Moslem with his paper fragments saved 

On every stone write "God." 

♦Holy Cross Mountain in Colorado. 



52 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

CHAT. 

Workman! spare nor time nor art, 
Grave in yonder stone 
Not thy hand alone 
But thy mind, thy heart. 

As you shape the stone 

Lay the square thereon; 

See if it be true. 

St. Francis' school 

Says: "Keep the Rule, 

Then will the Rule keep you." 

• 
Epigram. 

These sects — these fragments — workman, say! 
Shall they be waste foreverrrTore? 
No! these shall later pave the way 
Unto our Church's door. 

The Irish Hod=Man. 

Shall we mix this mortar 

Dost thou think 

With the common water 

That the cattle drink? 

No! for this work holy 

Must we use 

Sacred water solely; 



CHAT 53 

See I bring- a cruse 
With the Easter blessing-, 
Gained by jostling- and pressing 
Throug-h the women folk last Saturday. 
(Thomas, hold your tongue! 
Father James in passing by the way 
Said this wasn't wrong. ) 

Self. 

I looked in on the wilful man: 
"What is this here? O workman, say! 
This stone is ruined. Where's your plan?" 
"I tried to do it my own way." 

Some error still maintained in pride; 
Some sin that will not penance brook; 
For once denied is thrice denied, 
Unless the Lord upon us look. 

Testimony of the Rocks. 

"And do you believe that a God exists?" 
The anaemic agmostic cried: 
And plain from the church's ascending wall, 
"God exists" the prompt echo replied. 

To him who has ears the rocks will have tongues, 
And loud from each rugged stone 
Comes the voice of the "something- greater 
That speaks to the heart alone." 



54 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The something- that once was known as Pan 

For its omnipresent gleam; 

We change the name. But the self-same Power 

Only understood better from hour to hour, 

Is today our Theology's theme. 

Beauty from beauty springs. Make fair your lives 

and great 
O ye who build: then will our temple rise 
A beauty added intermediate 

Between the beauteous earth and beauteous skies. 
While down the ages every reverent mind 
Beholding in its service dutiful 
Will grow to what it views, until mankind, 
Gazing on beauty, becomes beautiful. 

In faith we must labor and on bended knee, 

Like the Brother Angelic of old; 

And his work was a prayer, as the traveller may 

see, 
Only uttered in colors and gold. 

Only ages of faith can give us great art; 
That is not on mere science's scroll, 
The heart can be seen alone by the heart, 
The soul alone by the soul. 



CHAT 55 

The Steeple. 

Slowly like God's choicest blessing's 
Grows our spire to stature meet^ 
Grows as grows the palm tree sky-ward 
Stately, slender, tall and sweet. 
Like to mother's prayer it pierces 
To the Throne without a pause, 
Never wavering- or doubting- 
God will hear her cause. 

Workmen! Build strong- with the backbone of moun- 
tains; 
Workmen! Build light with the Iris' spring-; 
Workmen! Build fair as the ferns by the fountains, 
Rock into beauty's forms blossoming-. 

Oh workmen see you work your best, 

A House is building- — not for man, 

And not for time — this our bequest 

Is for the centuries; 

For God these walls arise; 

All seeing- eyes 

Will note the shirk 

Of careless work, 

But unremembered strokes will also mark, and prize. 

And when your work is done 

Shall melody from every stone arise, 

As once of old from Memuon to the sun. 



56 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

If you have faith you shall say to the mountain: "Be moved. 

The little stone that was cut without hands 

From the mountain afar; 

Has grown to a mountain that stands 

All unmoved mid the centuries' jar. 

For the mountain must come to our prophet 

For our Church is where miracles are. 

Raising the Spire. 

The crush of sorrow, and the sting- of pain, 
Temptation's fire, adversity's harsh blow, 
Or worse, repentance that but sins again, — 
Of these the purpose we may sometime know, 
When God has built to perfectness 
His temple in us, by that stress 
Of which we now complain. 

Like wisdom in dust-laden unread tome 
Of which the busy world ne'er thought 
The iron lay within its caverned home; 
Till by the shovel and the pick revealed 
By furnace cleansed, by skill annealed 
'Twas by the cunning- hammer wrought, 
While ductile from the fire, 
To forms of beautiful and true — 
Today it bears into the blue 
Our glorious heaven-lit spire. 








. 


■ 




,fc***^a53 *'•'■* fiw5**5^!^^^rt( 






mUBI* ■" ' alfflffl 




^^^^JtU BP*** - 






H^Z3H^ _> 






|H ' BMPHi^^^PMH Pw- *Y , tV' * '•£•£ 






* "* ^i&'.fli & »« , * , ", Jk *--Ja 






^P^^^l fflrf* 1 ^ ,*jmm 










E3P^ 


^F^~ •J*"j2£p , ' y ~ *££jjfii&k 




jWF^P^^J 


J*r •• -*;. ' ->.^p Jj, xttP*^ irfiffilflimP 


^B8?^^ •- -•■Mi 






iSBSpP^^ ^»f -•^'^^eS 




IP "^^fiSiSBSBSK^HpWB BP^Tt\ 


liPE ^£131 




?(p^ssy^' '?JKr '■-&£'.'?' ^f% 


^■h^^'^E^bhHI fiaP* '^ $*<?'•■ 




* r v^^-.r^aE- J.ii >W"^BBbI 







UNUSED. SINGE MEN GREW PUNY. 






CHAT 57 

Roofing. 

Ih the miraculous no longer doubt: 
But yesterday our Temple stood 
Hypasthral — open to the air — 
Today the roof is on, — but there 
Is Heaven not shut out. 
For thronged in countless multitude 
Prom skyey homes the angels move 
Knowing- their home is also here, 
And wonderful and bright — 
A heavenly photosphere — 
They hover in the vast above, 
A dome of wings and light. 

I live the poem that I build,— 

These chapels are its verses; 

Its progress day by day 

Continual, rehearses 

That upward course from naught to good, 

From good to better and to best; 

The evolution, God-ordained, 

To work His great behest, — 

The chant proceeds to climaxed power 

Of minor and of major tone 

To where the altar ends the view — 

Doxology in stone! 



58 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Doubt. 

The cry of a soul in pain: 

Of a soul that thoug-ht it had seen 

A path illumed through the screen 

That parts our existences twain, — 

Of a soul erst-while content 

To lean on authority's creed; 

Now fears that the staff may be reed; 

And then comes the bewilderment 

One feels in the earthquake shock, 

When all we have trusted before 

Seems to recede and to mock, 

And the stable is stable no more; — 

'Tis the stake removed from the tree: 

That now must be strong- to bear 

The buffeting- winds from the lea, 

Nor trust to the planter's care: 

'Tis the trial by fire of the gold 

That the metal from dross may be clear; 

'Tis the scaffolding- taken away 

That the perfected work may appear. 

And from this spring-s the personal faith: 
"I believe because I have seen;" 
And seen with the mind all my own, 
Understood, not removed, the screen, 
Which only then shall be fully rent 
When at life's Architect's nod 
This temporal scaffold of flesh dissolves 
Revealing completed the work of God. 



MUSINGS 59 

MUSINGS. 

Religion is lost in the whirlpool of day; 

"And is this world all?" men inquire. 

So as gloaming- deepens, I take my way 

Where the higher truths respire. 

Then my soul once dark grows strangely bright: 

And as yon black ridge of pines 

In the glow of the westering light 

Like silver-tipped javelins shines, 

So my thoughts are shot through by the spear points 

of Faith 
As I traverse this darkening lauud, 
And through the dim mysteries of pain and of death 
Comes the gleam of the great Beyond. 

The Door. 

With depth and darkness of the Prophet's cave 

On Horeb, the rich portal draws our feet; 

So deep recessed that doorway serves for porch, 

To weary, sun-pained traveller sweet; — 

Can this be work of man alone? 

Is it not Deity in nature's forms 

In mimicry chosen, 

That archivolt a wreathed scarf of cloud, 

Or curl of snow wave frozen? 



60 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

And see! the generous stone 

Chamfers itself to very widest flare 

To let all in, and from each sculptured niche 

The housed saints welcome to us declare. 

Approach we with the reverent tread that praises 

The Moslem's unshod feet. 

As when an artist graciously upraises 

(His work being- now complete) 

The pall from curtained masterpiece; 

Or when first glimpse of Heaven 

Is given on soul's release, — 

What beauties greet 

Our raptured gaze! 

Apocalyptic glories gleam 

From floor and wall mosaic, 

In wondrous color scheme — 

Onyx and Chrysoprase, 

Beryl and Almandine, 

With Ruby's wine, 

And Topaz' yellow rays, 

Jasper and Sard and Amethyst 

With Hyacinthine blaze — 

This new Jerusalem — a bride — descending 

Adorned in vesture where the forest dyes 

Of western autumn are forever blending 

With mystery rare of oriental skies. 



MUSINGS 61 

I enter by the ample way, 
That door unshut, though it be late; 
And outstretched arms of Jesus say: 
"My Heart ope's wider than the gate." 

I am within my Father's house. 
Outside the strange hard faces meet me; 
The salty bread, the tiresome stair: 
But here familiar faces greet me. 

These saints— our family portraits these — 

Our brothers of the brave advance; 

We gaze upon them, and become 

All saintly by inheritance. 

Here are the patron saints of trades: 

St. Zita with her broom 

Makes clean with sweep and garnishment 

Her heart as well as room. 

St. Raphael is ready for the road: 

St. Bridget for the churn: 

St. Laurence still declares he knows 

When flesh is roasted to a turn; 

St. Isadore plows his field 

St. Crispin pegs his shoe — 

Even St. Ivo holds a brief 

Most wonderful, but true; 

While Jerome stands aghast to find 

Lawyer and saint combined! 



62 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

How hospitable is this Dome 
By one red cresset lit! 
Where all may find a home: 
Where saint and sinner fit: 
Where youth may loving- come: 
Where age may musing- sit. 

All images distorted by the headlong rush, 
Through channeled streets life hurries on apace: 
From whose sad turmoil I would gladly flee; 
But here, in quietude's encircling hush, 
My being's river broadens to a sea 
Reflecting heaven's face. 

No matter from what door we come, 
Like lane of moonlight on a stream 
For fairy's feet to call them home, 
Our path adown the aisle is strown 
In silver from the altar gleam 
To focal-point, the Tabernacle throne. 

The songs that sing- themselves to faith, 

The hopes that rise above despair, 

The doubts that somehow meet their death 

We know not when, or where, 

The love that drives out bitterness — 

All, all are centered there. 



MUSINGS 63 

The deepest grief is ever prayer 
And prayer the highest joy. And so 
To this our temple's dome 
Unlikest sentiments repair, 
And each soul finds a home 
With joyous matin song - , or vesper low. 

The Church the Holy Land. 

All here concentres. Bethlehem not least, 

But also Nazareth of peaceful air; 

The hill-side sermon and the grass-spread feast 

And morning miracle, and evening* prayer; 

With starry Galilee above us bent; 

With Bethany's repose; Jerusalem's strife: 

Giving to all in Sacrament 

His seven-fold lustred life. 

The curious approach but still are far: 
As in Capharnaum's sad sickened street 
The many pressed around but only one — 
A woman with her instinct fleet- 
Did touch with faith that drew the healing forth; 
So only love can know the joy intense 
That here alone on earth is g-iven 
To raptured spirit and to thrilling- sense. 
To realize the presences of Heaven, 
And know, refreshed, their saving- worth. 



64 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Before the Tabernacle. 

Sweet Love came to the darkened heart 
Bitter— in Mara's flood: 
And lo! it rose to light and peace 
And joy scarce understood. 

Brave Love met craven cowardice 
Disarmed, in headlong- flight, 
And turned him back with buckler new 
To faithful win the fight. 

Pure Love came to the Magdalene; 
And though the tears suffuse her face, 
Like brook flood-washed her soul is clean 
And sweet with perfumed grace. 

Wise Love touched lips that long were dumb; 
Lo! they awoke to prayer and song, 
That earth and sky and mount and mere 
Throbbed with the anthem strong. 

Who is this Love so potent, brave 
And wise, these conquests prove? 
The Tabernacle opes its door 
And whispers "God is Love.'' 

Before the Rood Screen. 

I look into my Saviour's eyes. 

Ah! no, they look on me 

And chide with love's authority 





1 

i 










J(x i IBiiL w .- 




8bi 




■KS? 





ENGLAND'S GRACE. 



MUSINGS 65 

My infidelities. 

Ourselves look often on ourselves 
Nor mark the cock's accusing-; 
But when the Lord upon us looks 
How vain our self-amusing-! 
If then there be no bitterness 
Our soul's recess within, 
No tear stains on our face, 
We have not less of Peter's sin 
But less of Peter's grace. 

The life of him can never be the same 
Who once beholds a ghost. From this fair fane 
Emerging, ease nor wealth nor hollow power 
Their specious eminence retain. 

Worldlings self-satisfied may scorn the God 
To them unseen. Refuse we or obey, 
We who have heard His thrilling: "Follow me!" 
Can never after be as they. 

"O not for Thee the glow, the gloom, 
That changest not in any gale." 

There are truths that the bragg/art noonday flouts 

Till they weakly deny their power; 

There are truths that grow hag-g-ard and doubtful 

and dark 
In the mist of the midnig-ht hour: 



66 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Those find their soul in the eventide prayer 

And these in the morrow's blue: 

But I viewed my Church by the dark and the bright 

And in both it was greatly true. 

There are thoughts that seem great when my soul 

exalts 
In the joy of an untired wing-; 

There are griefs that come with a crushing- weight 
When the spirit falls sorrowing-. 
But how trivial those to the heart that bleeds 
Or these to the soul elate: 

But my Church I viewed by the joy and the woe 
And in both proved it truly great. 

Neath this roof life's Benedictions 
Flow around us, like a psalm; 
Round our littleness God's greatness, 
Round our restlessness His calm. 

O sole refreshment for the feet that tire! 
City of refuge from the world's alarms! 
Above, the daily cloud, the nightly fire, 
And underneath the everlasting arms. 



INSIDE FINISH 67 

Fresco. 

"Just leave the ornament away" 
Says the sour Puritan. But nay! 
A Bride must show her best; 
The King- her beauty will desire, 
In her embrace will gladly rest, 
And dwell with her for aye. 

For beauty is this Monarch's handmaid; 

Glowing- in approach to Him, 

Exiled from the loving- glances, 

Waning-, faint and dim. 

Waning- as obedience fails, 

Dim in heathenesse,— but brightening 

To the splendors of the Stanze 

And the Sistine's lightning. 

My abode is in the full assembly of saints. Eccl. 24. 

Leave me not lonely in this my earthly dwelling: 
Gather round my Tabernacle those in life most loved; 
First, my Maiden Mother, then the Guardian proved, 
The Disciple next in depth of love excelling. 
And the Protomartyr Stephen with his palm so ear- 
ly given 
From the tree of life supernal, 
Face upraised, like one inspired 
To the opening vision; 



68 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

And the Little Ones forbid not 
They the flowerets vernal 
In their heart's blood shriven, 
Life relinquished, not yet tasted 
Such are meet for Heaven. 

The Baptismal Font. 

Lo! where the Baptist aloft holds his pennon! 
There runs the Jordan potent as of yore; 
Bethbarah heals every genital woe, 
Naaman leaves here his leprosy's sore, 
Over this stream is the land of the promise, 
Land where the milk and the honey yet flow. 
Fear not the passage through waves or through 

desert: 
Know that Jehovah our great Shepherd leads, 
With the rod and the staff for the valley of shadow, 
With the cloud and the flame interchanged at our 

needs. 

Th£ Soul like brightness-wearied bird 
Seeks, 'mid the splendor, place of rest; 
Finding, in sculptured niche and cell, 
Eyries for thought to nest. 

To nest and bring her fledgelings forth, 
Bantlings from lowly parent sprung; 
Poor squabs mayhap, but all her own, 
And to her more than Eagle's young. 



INSIDE FINISH 69 

The Lady Chapel. 

An artist says in every masterpiece 

There is a point of rest to which returns 

Our gaze, as beast to stall or bird to nest; 

Or like the center of a mighty wheel 

That views, unmoved, whirling circumference. 

It is not on the height, for there the rays 

Too dazzling bright: It is not in the plains, 

For there again is dull monotony. 

It is the measure of all other parts; 

It is the gamut's sol which ever shows 

How far our note is from the ladder's ends. 

Our Lady's chapel is this point of rest: 
It is the moon after the radiant noon 
That streams from out the Tabernacle door 
That Sinai of the Presence terrible. 
It gives us power to compare, to see 
How high the mortal is, if raised by God; 
But yet how high God above highest man. 

The Confessional. 

Magdala's child at confessional kneeling, 

Here brings her salt tears for frailty's repair; 

Deaf to the sneers of the proud and unfeeling 

Still does her golden hair 

Blessedest feet touch: 

Still are her eyes the glad tidings revealing: 

"Much is forgiven, because she loved much." 



70 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The Altar. 

"He Bpoke in parables." 

And Pity the old way reverses. 

Not in the baldness of our work-day stated — 

With figure and with parable adorned, 

That Teacher Truth rehearses 

Who loved where others hated, 

Who praised where others scorned. 

So carve the crimson Rose, 
Type of His blood that flows 
Still for our healing-. 
Twine too the Passion flower 
With lilies white, whose dower, 
That purity of heart and hand, 
The face of God revealing-. 
And for remembrance plain — 
Lest men forg-et ag-ain — 
Showing in sculptured history 
The favored fruit and grain 
Of Sacramental mystery. 

The Carver. 

Sweet work! I carve the tendrilled vine 
Whose pity-tender fingers cling 
Around His tabernacled shrine, 
Fairer than gay flower's blossoming. 



INSIDE FINISH 71 

Sweet work! I round to perfectness 
Each berry full with mystic wine, 
And hear from far the words that bless: 
"Ho! ye that thirst, I am the Vine." 

Sweet work! I form that choicest leaf 
Of leafy world: five-lobed like hand of God; 
Hear words that still our selfish grief: 
"My robe is red; the wine press I have trod.' 1 

Sweet work! Beneath my chisel grow 
The stately shafts of sculptured wheat. 
Some stand erect; some bending" low 
Form fitting- capital. While sweet 

From those that droop toward man's estate, 
(Like on the cross my Jesus' head) 
For starving souls the message great: 
"Ye hungry come! I am the Bread." 

The Pulpit. 

And now to my Preacher give you a thought. 
On high prop him up on Evangelists four, 
That the tidings of joy to all peoples be taught. 
While Matthew assures us that Christ is our Broth- 
er, 
On a world ever desert let Mark's lion roar, 
Luke's bull to the sacrifice patient be brought, 
And the eagle of John must continue to soar 
Till the sight of this world is lost in that other; 



72 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

And the Lion of Juda on eagle wings borne 

Tying his foal, my son, to the vine, 

Making His enemies footstool of scorn, 

And dyeing His vesture in wine, 

Shall perfect the kingdom and bring the new morn; 

Coming, not from old JVigJit as mj'thologies say 

Their gods did arise, but all gloriously bright 

In the splendor of saints from the womb of the Day. 

The Nooning. 

This day I took 
My rest within the nook — 
Corner where shadow lies- 
Farthest from windows bright 
And from the ray that beams 
Adown the church— like moon on streams — 
The sanctuary light. 
And thought came to me as I sate: 
I wish religion had no mysteries; 
I wish my faith from doubt were free. 
A voice: — it whispering says: 
"What would life be without its mystery? 
If all were noonday bright 
Would we not miss the lovely night?" 
Let us not waste our powers 
By knocking at closed doors. 



INSIDE FINISH 73 

Wait till they ope, 

These portals of our hope, 

And knowing- we are dumb, 

Lie down content in childish trust, 

Hug-ging- the mystery that we cannot plumb; 

For here is the Lover revealed I ween; 

That He shows Himself at our lattice 

Half hidden and half seen. 

And the Rabbi observes 
As he rolls up his book; 
"Three keys God reserves: 
Man seeks them in vain; 
The key of the womb, 
The key of the rain 
And the key of the tomb." 

Revelation. 

Searching- for truths that hidden lie, 
In lines throug-h darkness spelt, 
There flashed a lig-ht from Deity — 
I looked into infinity — and knelt. 



74 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

COMPLETION. 

Consummatum est. 
Today our work is consummate. 
Shaped like the cross and pierced by portals live 
Like Him who hung- thereon: 
Portals unshut by day or night, 
With welcome early welcome late, 
That all may see and live; 
A sacrifice complete yet still to rise 
Morning- by morning- on our eyes, 
Breaking- that eastern verg-e of skies 
Whence comes the one true Lig"ht. 

Vision. 

"Who is this that rises red with wounds so splen- 
did? 
All her brow and breast made beautiful with scars; 
In her eyes a lig-ht and fire as of long- pain ended; 
In her mouth a song- as of the morning stars." 

Swinburne. 

DEDICATION. 

Our Temple rose to varied chant 

Of sorrowing- toil throug-h ages long; 

By one entoned, by others taken up: 

Now Psalm of labor turns to Triumph's song. 



DEDICATION 75 

Hymn. 

Lift yourselves up, O eternal gates. Ps. 23. 
FIRST CHOIR. 

Open wide your portals, 
Princes open wide! 
See! the King- of glory 
Now will enter in. 

SECOND choir. 
Who's this King- of glory 
Coming- now, O say? 

THIRD CHOIR. 

God the strong- and mig-hty, 
Mig-hty in the fig-ht. 
Alleluja! 

FIRST CHOIR. 

Open then your portals, 
Princes open wide! 
See! the King; of glory 
Now will enter in. 

SFCOND choir. 
Who's this King of glory 
Coming now, O say? 

THIRD CHOIR. 

He, the God of virtues, 
He's this glorious King. 
Alleluja! 



76 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

Litany, 

"And thither the tribes of the Lord went up;" 
(Happy the soul that can run.) 
"Our feet, O Jerusalem, have stood in thy courts, 
Jerusalem compacted in one." 

"I joyed in the things that were said unto me;" 
(Happy the soul that rejoices.) 
"The rush of the River the City makes glad; 
And the waters shall lift up their voices." 

"O come and behold the wonders of God!" 
(Happy the soul that can see.) 
"For preciousest stones are all her walls 
And her towers are jewelry." 

"Tell ye the wonderful things of the Lord;" 
(Happy the soul that can shout.) 
"Narrate it for ages to come, in her towers; 
Go round about Sion, O go round about." 

"Arise, O my glory! Rise Psaltery, Harp!" 
(Happy the soul that can sing.) 
"Let us come to His presence with joyfullest noise; 
With voices saluting the King." 

"Thou hast chosen the lowly, O God my God;" 
(Happy the soul elect.) 
"The head of the Temple's corner, behold! 
Is the stone that the builders reject." 



DEDICATION 77 

"They are planted secure in the house of the Lord;" 
(Happy the soul that with God is content.) 
"I had rather be abject and poor in thy courts 
Than dwell in the sinners' gilt tent." 

-The presence of Godhead shall fill all the House;" 
(Happy the soul that can pray.) 
"For here shall My eyes behold ever, 
My ears be opened alway." 

-Who worship in pride shall not dwell in thy house;" 
(Happy the soul that is humbled.) 
"The Lord is our staff and the light of our path, 
And Israel's feet have not stumbled." 

-Who shall dwell in thy tent? Who shall rest on 

thy hill? 
(Happy the soul that can stay.) 
"In the place that His feet have trodden I kneel; 
And this is my rest for aye." 

-How lovely thy tentings, O Israel's God!" 
(Happy the soul that can love.) 
-My spirit hath fainted in midst of thy courts, 
And brooded like turtle dove." 

"She remembereth not the sorrow today," 
(Happy the soul that believes.) 
"Going- out, we wept at our labor 
But coming, we carry our sheaves." 

LofC. 



78 THE BUILDING OP A CHURCH 

"He shall be builded and founded in peace." 
(Happy the soul that has won.) 
"For I to him shall be ever his God; 
And he shall be ever my son." 

Reward. 

"Cast thy bread upon the waters." 

I gave a dime, — 'twas sorely done! 

I went without my food to spare it. 

But here what treasure have I won! 

I do not even seem to share it 

With others. I, poor I, alone 

Possess the whole, 

From buttress up to coping- stone. 

For me the pillars stand, 

Like rows of sentries tall; 

For me the roof, like God's own hand, 

Spreads over all. 

The gold is mine that gleams, 

The light is mine that streams . 

From storied windows higfh, 

In colors manifold 

As virtues there retold — 

And ne'er to die — 

Outnumbering rainbow's seven fold dole, 






PROCESSIONS 79 

With Martyr's fortitude and Virgin's purity, 

Confessor's voice and Doctor's scroll, 

Apostle's zeal with frailty's sorrow, 

Centurion's faith, disciple's love, 

Prophetic gaze that seems to borrow 

From that reserved for Heaven above — 

This from the Apocalypse — 

And, focussed back to light, ablaze, 

The source of all these differing rays, 

The Figure on the Crucifix! 

To Lazarus all this is given! 

Oh! joy is mine! My bread comes back 

And not as earth, but Heaven. 

PROCESSIONS. 

"God will count the steps." 

Wondrous the strains of the organ's recessional 

Floating away down the darkening aisle, 

Bringing to memory groupings processional 

Visions of those who have swept through this pile. 

Swiftly or slowly, now coming now going 

Here do they meet, or there intertwine: 

Is it the ocean's life ebbing and flowing? 

Nay! an epitome, mortal, of thine; 

Where birth and where love and where death are 

but showing 
The symphony's need of a trio divine. 



80 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The Baptism. 

Fresh as paradisal flower 
Every new life springs; 
But imperfect is its dower, 
It must win by strife; 
Cank-er worm to rosebud clings, 
Satan round the tree of Life. 

So within the font baptismal 
Wash the stain of Adam's woe, 
Head annoint with unction chrysmal 
Clothe with garment white as snow, 

Happy mother, blushing father — 
If the squirming infant cries 
Proud the gossip, quick to gather 
Comforting life-prophesies. 

Faster tie the parents' wed hands, 
In their lives new beauties weave, 
This be your work little red hands 
Clutching at my surplice sleeve. 

The Marriage Procession. 

How the joyous bridal march, 
Mendelssohn's or Wagner's song, 
Speaks re-echoed from each arch 
Its antiphonary long: 



PROCESSIONS 81 



Take the "glory" that is thine 
Man, with consort Heaven sent. 
Bow to headship made divine, 
Woman, in this sacrament. 

Love her with the love of Saviour 
Where the master serves. 
Love him with the glad behavior 
The Church toward Christ observes. 

Give thy life and g-ive thy blood. 
Give thy duty nor forget 
Stand as faithful by the Rood 
As on gladsome Olivet. 

With a love and service great 
Each of each the complement 
Enter wedlock's blest estate, 
Equal, because different. 

And the tong-ueful Paraclete 
Equal woman, man, with thee, 
From this union shall complete 
The terrestrial trinity. 

As they pace adown these aisles, 
Earth recedes and heaven nears, 
In a joy too grave for smiles, 
In a pain too g-lad for tears. 



82 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

First Communion. 

Like a group of Easter lilies 
In the gay parterre 
Kneel the children at the altar: 
Happy, fluttered hearts are there! 
Day of days so long- expected! 
Of life's volume fairest page! 
Sweet oasis in the desert, 
'Twixt the levity of childhood 
And the worldliness of age. 
Will time ever yield another 
With the bloom of this? 
In the joy of sister, brother, 
In the rapture of the mother 
As she prints a kiss 
On the lips that lately opened 
To mysterious bliss? 

Still the sweetness of your faces 
My fond memory holds; 
As the fragrance of the censer 
Clings within the vestment's folds. 



PROCESSIONS 83 



Communion. 

They knew him in the breaking of bread. 

Not in the tragedy alone 

Of Calvary's gloom — 

Not in the heavy stone 

Rolled from the tomb — 

Not in refulgence bright 

Of Thabor's pinnacle — 

Not in speech erudite — 

Or miracle — 

Not in unusual star, 

Or heavenward flight 

Piercing the cloud afar 

On Olivet's lone height — 

But in the littleness 

Of work-day round, 

In these each life to bless 

The Lord is found. 

And in what wondrous wise 

Is He there seen ! 

He opes not shuts the eyes 

By this His screen. 

In Bread Himself concealing 

That none may flee; 

In Bread Himself revealing 

That all may see. 



84 THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH 

The Funeral. 

Drawing a stop unused before 

God's black-robed Azrael 

On muted heart-strings plays: 

A discord but to those who dwell 

Upon the partial phase 

Of earthly moments. Those who see 

The whole, glad through their tears adore, 

And feel the vaster melody. 

When hark! The consecration bell! 
The rite is consummate. A radiant train 
Their wings the morning- ether cleaving 
Angelic troops descending — 
To eye of faith how plain! — 
The Heavens above us leaving 
For very Heaven around us bending 
Our earthly sanctuary fill. 
Christ Jesus to His Temple comes: 
Let all the earth be still! 



JAN 



1*7 







?"v^ 



**£ 








& 













°^i/ 



:\^M 



_ 

















W^js 






& 



%^m% '%j> 









F /^-.x< 





&Li 













'a$pJ~aA\ 






4 

t4 m :t4>e* 











■3tfc. V 







««^Kt^ 



" 





yi-nm 



